NEW HANOVER COUNTY — Tensions between the New Hanover County Board of Elections and county are once again intensifying, this time over an email list BOE staff allegedly misused to advocate for additional funding.
READ MORE: NHC commissioners dislike 35-cent tax rate, request staff to present lower option
On Friday, May 23, an email went out to 2,200 current and former precinct officials and election workers, encouraging them to contact commissioners in support of the department’s 2025-2026 budget request.
The ask is $225,882 for software improvements and three full-time and three part-time positions. The county originally proposed giving only $20,000 for the software and $150,000 for the rest.
Though signed by New Hanover County Elections Staff, it was board chair Derrick Miller that approved the message.
The email included a template to allow for a quick copy-and-paste of the advocacy message, which includes a need for the enhancements to continue complying with an increase in statutory requirements.
The template reads: “We request that you defer to the subject matter specialists, our Board of Elections and Elections staff. These requests are not frivolous nor were they made without consideration of all impacts.”
Despite government offices being closed for Memorial Day, County Manager Chris Coudriet emailed commissioners Monday, May 26, to address the influx of emails received from election officials. Coudriet said while he didn’t object to the content of the emails, the BOE staff had broken county policy by using the county’s communication platform.
“Use of the system in that regard is in conflict with county policy, in my opinion,” Coudriet wrote to commissioners.
He is referring to the Acceptable Use Policy and Personnel Policies, which restrict using county email for unsolicited advocacy or mass solicitations. County administration communicated those concerns to board of elections leadership, according to county spokesperson Alex Riley.
Miller claimed the message was not a violation.
“I made a point of having our independent legal counsel review it before it was sent,” he wrote in an email to PCD Thursday. “The information was completely non-partisan; it just spoke to the needs of the elections board. I would also add that I see nothing wrong with citizens expressing their opinion about the budget to their elected officials.”
Still, Miller issued a follow-up email asking members to stand down due to the high volume of emails being sent to commissioners.
“I understand that their inboxes were inundated, and it was impeding their work,” Miller wrote. “I therefore instructed staff to send a follow-up message requesting everyone to refrain from further emails. The emails should not become a distraction from the central fact that the board of elections needs to be fully funded to carry out its mission.”
Despite the error, the county manager said the email misuse is beyond his and commissioners’ administrative purview. While the county provides funding to support BOE facilities and facility management, the board is independent and BOE staff don’t answer to county commissioners.
The BOE budget has been a point of contention over the last year, but it was further magnified during the aftermath of the 2024 election.
In the days following the election, the BOE revealed nearly 2,000 mail-in ballots remained uncounted, though state law requires all absentee ballots to be tabulated on Election Day.
Coudriet expressed frustration over the discrepancy in state law and local action taken, and reported the local board’s administrative cutoff was advised by the State Board of Elections, but state BOE staff didn’t back the claim. Coudriet said BOE Director Rae Hunter-Havens told him the cutoff was made due to the work needed to vet ballots and sort them into proper precincts. They were still counted by the canvass on Nov. 14 and didn’t change the outcome of the election.
Commissioner Dane Scalise also hired an attorney before the recounts, stating the BOE broke numerous state laws and filed a complaint against the local elections board. The complaint was dismissed.
Then in December, the county paid $30,000 to Parker Poe Law Firm to conduct an audit of the BOE. The BOE did not cooperate in Parker Poe’s review, which found the board was aware of the 2024 election’s statutory requirements but set internal deadlines that conflicted with state law.
Parker Poe also suggested six areas to improve processes, including enhanced communication and oversight, strengthened absentee ballot processing, conducting regular audits and legal reviews, enhancing legal and administrative support, investing in staff training and technology, and reviewing and funding resource requests.
Miller has suggested the BOE didn’t have enough resources, particularly staffing, to juggle the influx of voters turning out for the presidential race, along with the increase in responsibilities put on elections boards by changes at the state level. Though the latter was unexpected, Hunter-Havens did not indicate in the spring of 2024 the BOE would be unable to perform its duties in the fall.
“In my opinion, knowing that there would be a monster election in a presidential year, you got to be prepared for that kind of stuff,” Commissioner LeAnn Pierce said on a call with Port City Daily Thursday.
Both she and Scalise had a negative reaction to Miller’s email. However, commissioners Stephanie Walker and Rob Zapple advocated against making the issue bigger than it needed to be.
“I don’t see it as a major anything,” Zapple told PCD Thursday. “I think upon reflection, they probably should not have used a list … but I also don’t see any tremendous harm that was done.”
Commissioner Walker said something similar in her emailed response to Coudriet’s Monday notification.
“Looks like they were advocating for themselves, which has already been acknowledged as being fine,” Walker said. “While I do understand the issue was taken with using county email, I imagine that won’t happen again. I appreciate the updates, but I’d personally rather put this to rest.”
Scalise replied he was “not going to let it go.”
“There is a pattern and practice of not following the rules at NHCBOE (e.g., hiding thousands of ballots from the public until after election day),” Scalise wrote. “And, perhaps worse, they refuse to acknowledge their errors and simultaneously insist we ‘defer to the subject matter specialists.’”
Pierce agreed.
“Conflicts with the misuse of county email policy, conflicts with following state election law, conflicts everywhere,” she wrote. “Red flags should not be ignored. I find them to be indicators of a deeper problem which almost always resurface. Just my two cents worth.”
Scalise went as far as to say the BOE needs new leadership in a post to X on May 27, though it’s unclear if he means the elections director, Rae Hunter-Havens, the board or both.
It reads: “More funding won’t fix what’s wrong at @NHCVOTE. NHC BOE NEEDS NEW LEADERSHIP IMMEDIATELY.”
Pierce didn’t necessarily agree in her conversation with Port City Daily on Thursday.
“I can’t say that the leadership is at fault here, but when you keep having problems, you’ve got to make adjustments,” she said.
Zapple also pointed out that who’s in charge isn’t the commissioners’ call.
Local boards of elections are appointed by the State Board of Elections, which picks two Republicans and two Democrats after reviewing suggestions from the local parties. The chair position, formerly picked by the governor, is now picked by the state auditor, a law change made this year.
State law mandates the State Board of Elections appoint its members on the last Tuesday of June in odd numbered years — meaning picks will come out next month. The state board, which recently shifted from Democratic to Republican control, has already indicated it’s in favor of shake-ups: One of the first things it did on the job was fire the state elections director, Karen Brinson-Bell.
“In about a month, right on schedule as always, we’ll have a new county board,” Miller wrote. “This was going to happen anyway.”
Despite the problems with the email, the BOE has ultimately gotten its wish; Coudriet included full funding of its request in his latest budget recommendation.
During the last budget discussion, commissioners instructed Coudriet to come back with a budget built on a 33.9-cent tax rate. The request was a slight compromise between the property tax rate the county has landed on throughout the budget process, 35 cents per $100 of value, and the revenue neutral tax rate, 29.1 cents, Scalise and Pierce are fighting for.
Several items have been added back into the budget, including $225,882 for the board of elections to bring on part-time admin technicians, a voting services manager, and an elections registration coordinator. This is in addition to the other requested items and brings the recommended funding up to the full enhancement request.
In conversation with PCD, Zapple said he was supportive of the full request, though Pierce was skeptical. However, no commissioner objected to the BOE increase at the commissioners’ agenda review Thursday afternoon. Commissioners did not bring up the email controversy either.
The budget will be discussed at Monday’s commissioner meeting.
Reach journalist Brenna Flanagan at brenna@localdailymedia.com.
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